When I first saw the trailer for Gentlemen Broncos (comes out on DVD March 2nd) and saw that it was written and directed by Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite, Nacho Libre), I got very excited.  I am a big fan of Napoleon and Nacho.  Well, I just got done watching the movie and my excitement level is non-existent.

The movie is about Benjamin Purvis (Michael Angarano) a teenager who loves to read and write science fiction novels.  He creates a book called Yeast Lords: The Bronco Years (I laughed at the title) and submits it to be considered for a prize at a writers camp.  The book is read by Dr. Ronald Chevalier (Jemaine Clement, one half of Flight of the Conchords), a sci-fi novelist whom Purvis idolizes as do many other sci-fi fans.  To make a long story short, Chevalier steals the story from Benjamin and gives it to his publisher.  The book becomes Chevalier's next big hit and Benjamin is left with nothing.  

Throughout the movie we get to see glimpses of the Yeast Lords novel in fantasy sequences, sort of like a movie inside the movie.  The character of Bronco, in these fantasies, is played by Sam Rockwell.  I love Sam Rockwell and if you haven't seen Choke or Moon, stop stalling and watch them.  Anyway, Rockwell's performance as Bronco is the only part of the movie I truly enjoyed.  If it wasn't for his scenes (there weren't enough) I would not have liked the movie at all.  Sure, I laughed at a couple of lines here and there but not enough.

A couple of the other ridiculous characters are Benjamin's mom Judith (Jennifer Coolidge, aka Stiflers mom) and Benjamin's guardian angel Dusty (Mike White, School of Rock).  I like Coolidge and White but not in this movie.  It wasn't really their fault it's just that the characters they played weren't funny at all and they were so overly forced into being "odd" that they were just stupid.

Not one I would recommend.